Every time I cover events like the Lyon County Fair, I’m accompanied by an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. My angel keeps me going at the fair, no matter how tired I feel, while the devil tries to get in my head and sway me to take the easy way out.
My angel will remind me of the sweet aroma of mini-donuts and pronto pups. The devil will remind me of the lingering stench of cow manure.
My angel will try to lead me to cute kids ready to be photographed. The devil will try to lead me to creepy carnys ready to take my money.
Last week, my angel encouraged me to make not one, not two, not three, but four trips to Marshall in my attempt to hit all angles possible for this week’s edition. And I listened, which is evident by the paper you’re reading.
But the devil is always lingering, and this year, he might have gotten the last laugh.
This year’s fair was different than any others I’ve covered, and what went down last Thursday will make attending all the more memorable.
My evening started out as usual. I planned on walking around the carnival for cute kid photos. This isn’t technically hard labor, but it does require patience, timing and a lot of walking. I got a number of photos and met some nice people when getting their kids’ names for the photo captions (a photo without a name is just a photo in my book).
I then visited the barns, including the Ralco Enrichment Center where, after years of trying, I finally got a a glimpse of a sow farrowing. Pretty cool experience for all if you ask me.
I made my way down to the pig barn area, which is typically ground zero for Tracy and Tracy area folks. True to form, there were a lot of familiar faces lingering. One of those was Marin Knott, who was once again showing her pig this year. Marin’s a cool girl, and she took the time to introduce me to the Knott animals. One by one, she introduced me to her and her sisters’ pigs as she fed them Animal Crackers. I even got to feed one! Again, pretty neat experience for a city boy like me.
Thank you, angel. Soon after — this is when I could hear the devil laughing — the skies darkened and the tornado sirens went off. As you know, weather in August in Minnesota is a total crap shoot, so stormy weather moving in wasn’t much of a shock to anyone. A Lyon County Sheriff’s deputy weaved his way through the crowd, imploring on his loud speaker that it was time to head inside for shelter.
I didn’t listen, instead choosing to head to the rodeo grounds. Like so many Minnesotans, I wanted to stay outside to either stare at the clouds or at the radar on our phones. Someone had said that a tornado touched down some 5 miles from Marshall, so my first thought, of course, was this is a potential storm that I can report on. My tiny bucket list includes getting a photo of a funnel cloud, but — and this is a good thing — no twister touched down in Marshall.
I got to the rodeo area at about 6:15. This is one of the most enjoyable things to shoot for any photographer. It’s 100% action, and every time I cover it, I am reminded why the rodeo draws such a huge crowd.
But as I waited, it became evident that we were going to get hit with rain, wind and perhaps some dreaded hail. Those in the grandstands were told they had to leave, and since I was one of them, I left as well.
Fair and rodeo attendees either headed to their cars to call it a night or were herded into or close to various structures. I was one of the latter, and I eventually found myself hanging out with a bunch of llamas for what turned out to be about 40 minutes. Llamas are cute and all, but I don’t need to hang with them for that long.
Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. I was soaked, my back hurt and I wanted to leave. I waited out the storm along with everyone else still there, but the rodeo that night was out for me. I made a bee line to my Jeep (with its two front windows partially open) and said good-bye to the fair for the day, knowing I would be back probably twice the next day and again Saturday, angel and devil in tow.
All in all it was a memorable night, but next time I go, I’m leaving the devil behind.
Can’t keep a good 4-H mom down
Hats off to fair and rodeo organizers, who work their tails off to put on a great event every year, and the 4-Hers — who work harder than I ever did when I was their age — and their parents who sacrifice as well to make sure their kids are keeping up on their chores and getting their animals and projects ready for the fair.
I have a few people I would like to publicly thank: Alicia Swenhaugen, Jenna Buyck, Jeanne Knott, Kim Roggatz and Katie Lanoue. These 4-H moms are the bomb, and I relied on them to work with me at the fair Saturday, as I had to leave by 1 to cover the Irish at state. A lot of the fair coverage you see in this week’s paper is a direct result of their generosity and willingness to be there for me, even though they had a hundred other things on their fair/parent plates.
